Welcome to Bill Champlin's new website! If you consider he's my favorite artist ever, it was a good surprise that "beautiful" website sees the light of day. You can find almost everything about that talented singer, musician, songwriter and "cool cat" :-)
Enjoy!! - Arnaud Leger

Bill Champlin was born in Oakland, California on May 21, 1947 to a musical family. His grandparents, mother and sisters have all been singers. Bill is married to Tamara Champlin, a singer/songwriter in her own right, and is the father of three children. His youngest, Will Champlin, is building a name for himself as a prolific songwriter with a distinct sound.

Champlin’s musical career began in 1961 when he formed a band called the Opposite Six. A year later he began writing music. After forming the Sons of Champlin in 1967 he focused his songwriting talents on producing material for the Sons. “They were breathing fire. They were the most talented of all the San Francisco bands”, said Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. The Sons’ first album, LOOSEN UP NATURALLY, was released in 1969, followed by six more albums before they broke up in 1977. Many of these have been re-released as CD’s and are currently available for purchase.

After the breakup of the Sons, Bill moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session lead and background vocalist on numerous recordings from 1977-1985. Some of the artists that he has worked with include Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, Donna Summer, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Amy Grant, Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers. In 1978 he released SINGLE, his first solo album. In 1979 he won his first Grammy award for co-writing “After the Love is Gone”, which was later recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire. During the recent Chicago/EWF tours in 2004 and 2005, Champlin was asked to perform this song with them, as lead singer.

The National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) awarded Bill the Most Valuable Player peer award for male background vocalists in 1980. In 1981 he won another Grammy for co-writing Turn Your Love Around for George Benson, and released his second solo album that year, RUNAWAY. In 1982 he joined Chicago to record Chicago 16. “Bill’s exactly what we’ve been looking for,” said Chicago’s Robert Lamm . His very distinctive and expressive vocals can be heard on Chicago's hits , "Hard Habit to Break" and "Stay the Night."

In 1988 Bill’s recording of the song, “In the Heat of the Night”, was picked up as a show opener by the television show of the same name. The following year Chicago released the song of the year, “Look Away”, featuring Champlin on lead vocals. In 1990 Bill released the critically acclaimed NO WASTED MOMENTS. That same year he was asked to perform two songs from NO WASTED MOMENTS at the Tokyo Music Festival, and was presented with their songwriter of the year award.

Next came four solo albums, BURN DOWN THE NIGHT (1992), THROUGH IT ALL (1994), HE STARTED TO SING (1995) and MAYDAY (1996). In July, 1997, “Here in my Heart” topped the adult contemporary charts for Chicago, featuring Champlin on lead vocals. 1997 also saw an a capella release of WEST COAST ALL STARS, a project he did with Jason Scheff of Chicago, and Toto’s Bobby Kimball and Joseph Williams.

The Sons of Champlin reunited in 1997 and continue to tour on a regular basis, with a loyal group of enthusiastic fans traveling great distances to see them perform. They recorded LIVE AT THE LUTHER BURBANK CENTER in 1998, SECRET (CD and DVD) and HIP LIL’ DREAMS in 2002, and are planning to release another live CD in 2006. Bill is currently writing new music while touring with Chicago and Huey Lewis & the News.